Yes, they are milkweed. This is the new milkweed in my garden. The old milkweed by the fire pit would usually get this way but being in a new location I was hopeful. And there are now about 75 milkweed plants in this area, only about a half dozen produced pods. Only saw 1 monarch butterfly this year. That is something I can not control. But I do want to figure out how to save the milkweed for the butterfly's and the bees, not the ants. Besides these 75, there were still about

Today's produce Not our first blue berries, but still producing. There were a few beets that did not get chewed off, these are two of them. There was also one plant that was bigger than the rest but no beet. Some days we have gotten a dozen yellow squash, but the delicata are slow to produce this year. Onions are doing great, mostly. The ones within the roots/shade of the tree are either small or died. The other area's look like all are still growing to a good size. Below is

Damage I assume it was the squirrels. I've seen damage like this before but it was in the fall when the corn was almost dented. Some years there would be a trail of corn from the garden to the tree trunk. As soon as I saw this, I put up more fence. I had gotten a six foot fence done on about half of this garden before I started planting. I didn't have time to put up the rest of the new fence so I just hung the fence I took down above the remaining area's where the fence was o

There were 5, could only get 3 in the picture. Why not? We have deer, bunnies, squirrels and other birds feasting in my garden, why not the turkey's? But they didn't stop to eat today. Another home day of weeding. I'm home for about a week, I needed to get my DOT done plus I try to get together with my siblings once a month and had missed last month. The garden shows I have been gone. Lots of weeds, need to pull enough to be able to see where the rows are. I want to get most

Little bunny I had watered the garden and after I shut the water off I saw him inside the fence. I had no way to corner him that night so he was in there for a week before we didn't see him anymore. As soon as I saw him I changed my focus to weeding the blackberries. Trying to get rid of the places it could hide. This year we never saw the quinoa or Swiss chard ever come up. By now the carrots and beets were over six inches high and the beans had been taller than that. I'm gu

Corn Doing the annual 'knee high by the 4th of July' check. I wasn't home on the 4th so this is two days later. Unlikely it was only knee high by the fourth. This is my 1st planting of corn. The other corn I planted the same date is outside the fence and is not doing nearly as well. My goal is someday to be eating corn by the 4th of July. Not sure that is ever going to happen. No matter how early I plant, it still takes the weather to be just right for it to start growing. Th

Milkweed Finally. This WAS my strawberry patch. A couple of years ago I had planted milkweed about 20 feet from this area. Milkweed seed I had collected from various area's around the state so I thought some of it should grow. None did ... there. I'm guessing my seeds blew to this are and re-planted themselves naturally. I counted them a few times, over 50 milkweed in this area. Plus the original ones that gave me this idea in the old firepit area. And now there are two next

No peas Yes, it's been a month. And the garden shows it. Running / working hard for a month so no home time. I am only home this weekend because work found out after drivers were en-route that Friday was a federal holiday. The drop was closed so I am staying at a hotel for three nights with two of the buses and will deliver them on Monday ... and head out again Monday night. It has been hot and that may be one reason the peas didn't do well. Only ever saw about three of them

or never left It's worse than it shows on this picture. This was my first planting of corn. It looks like the moles may have gotten most of it. If nothing comes up, I will have to replant. Nothing new to plant yet. Except flowers. I did plant morning glories all the way around the compost bin. It took the two packages I had bought this year plus leftovers from other years. Then I planted a few short rows next to the milkweed and strawberries were nothing else will grow, We'll

Milkweed in the garden https://www.worldwildlife.org/news/nature-breaking/hope-for-monarch-butterflies-new-wwf-report-finds-64-increase/ Maybe my milkweed is a sign of things to come. A couple of years ago I was down to less than 12 plants. Then I tried planting some milkweed. Zero came up where I planted, but a few did come up across the yard where I assume they had blown to when I tried to plant them. So far this year I have counted over 60 plants including a few in a 3rd a

seed Today I got the rest of the onions transplanted plus the first two plantings of sweet corn. I started with new seed and will use up the older seed. This year I am planning on being more consistent with my planting. I'm planning on planting 15 hills of corn each planting. In the past it was whatever fit in the area. I plan on planting flowers if there are any open spots left over. Oh, and I planted some garlic also. Most garlic says to be planted in the fall but these pac

transplanted We are home for three plus days, mostly home. We do have something going on each day but I also have a few hours to work in the garden. The last two days were mostly setup, bought some fertilizer and stopped at our local seasonal greenhouse first and then the next day we stopped at the larger greenhouse. It was midweek but it looked like the weekend based on how many cars there were. Sweet potatoes, that is why we went to the larger greenhouse. I have looked onli

Rototilled Rototiller started with the 1st pull after sitting all winter. Only had a short time to work so I only got the area done when the misc plants are going to go. Not sure what the new weeds are but there is an new weed, almost like it was planted because some places in the garden it didn't grow. Maybe bacause of where and when I weeded it last fall? Spring is here.

Taller My plan had been to use my original fence and add a smaller roll to the top of the fence. But when I went to buy the fence, they now had taller fence than they had had in the past so I bought that instead and am replaceing the whole fence. And I am also burrying it nine inches in the ground so that bunnies can not just push under it. Another thing I am doing is moving the posts closer tother and using stronger posts. Not that the old posts didn't work I just decided I

Fence and damage After putting up a <> 5 foot high fence this spring, the garden seemed mostly safe this summer. We had lost three...

Produce We were finally home long enough to do some work in the garden. The beans and tomatoes had not been picked for a couple of weeks...

Deer tracks in the strawberry / now weed patch. We were gone another two weeks and when we got back we could see that the deer must have...

Fall blooms The season is winding down and we have been gone for about two weeks. Plenty of flowers for the bees. In the front are some...

tussock moth caterpillar Still spending time in the garden. I did get the pole beans braced up. I went to the store and bought more fence...